surpera1

so - i have been reading again - hahahahahaah - and this looks mighty interesting to me - on my 55 right now i have an AH supply 2x55 - and on the other side i rigged my old 40W T12 grow light in there - but i have been thinking - i can buy a cheap shop light and easily fit 2 four foot T8's in there also - and overdrive them 4X each - so how many watts would each bulb then put out ? i know the ah supply has nice reflectors to focus all your light into the tank - but - i can get mirror glass cut local to any size i want and use it as a reflector - which would be as good if not better than the ah units - i am sure some of you guys have gone down this path - so - is it worth it over the ah supply units ?i have no problem with electonics and wiring - and i looked at the ah supply ballasts - fulham - interesting - i can buy those easily either local or online - i'm starting to think i can do as good if not better on light - all feedback welcome

hooha

in my experience ODNO was a decent concept, but in practice it doesn't give as much light as compact flourescents, no matter how much you try to overdrive them. The size of the bulbs, the superiority of the reflector design for the compact flourescents, the amount of extra wattage lost to heat - all add up.

I'd recommend T5's or CF's if possible.

I'm not too skilled with electronics myself, but I took down my ODNO setup also because of fears of poor wiring/high fire risk.

surpera1

interesting - i think i will give it a try - i have an extensive background in electricity - so wiring things up isnt a problem for me - i have to satisfy my curiosity